CLUPI, a high-performance Imaging System on the rover of theExoMars Mission 2020 to doscover biofabrics on MARS. Science objectives and development status

The scientific objectives of the 2020 ExoMars rover mission are to search for traces of past or present life and to characterise the near-sub surface. Both objectives require study of the rock/regolith materials in terms of structure, textures, mineralogy, and elemental and organic composition. The 2020 ExoMars rover payload consists of a suite of complementary instruments designed to reach These objectives. CLUPI, the high-performance colour close up imager, on board the 2020 ExoMars Rover plays an important role in attaining the mission objectives: it is the equivalent of the hand lens that no geologist is without when undertaking field work. CLUPI is a powerful, highly integrated miniaturized (<900g) low-power robust imaging system, able to sustain very low temperatures (–120°C). CLUPI has a working distance from 11.5cm to infinite providing outstanding pictures with a color detector of 2652x1768x3. At 11.5cm, the spatial resolution is 8 micrometer/pixel in color. The optical-mechanical interface is a smart assembly that can sustain a wide temperature range. The concept benefits from wellproven heritage: Proba, Rosetta, MarsExpress and Smart-1 missions…